They tracked targets in the desert, practiced battening down the hatches for storms and reviewed every switch, button and computer system. Now, after a six-week-long “test-drive” in the Utah wilderness, U.S. Army soldiers are ready to take full control of Raytheon's enormous JLENS airships. Next stop: Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland, where the twin-radar system will begin a long-term trial watching over Washington, D.C.

The Raytheon Co.-led Cobra Judy Replacement (CJR) program surpassed expectations during its first tests against a live rocket launch on March 19. From approximately 100 miles off the Florida coast, the powerful X- and S-Band radars integrated onboard the USNS Howard O. Lorenzen (T-AGM 25) successfully acquired and tracked both stages of an Atlas V rocket launched from Cape Canaveral and collected all associated data.

Cassidian has won a €50 million programme to equip the airfields of the Royal Canadian Airforce with latest-technology airport surveillance radars. The Canadian contracting authority Public Works and Services Canada has selected Cassidian to deliver seven of its ASR NG airport surveillance radars to improve the flight safety on Canadian airbases and to enhance the integration of military aviation into civil air traffic. Cassidian is working together with Lockheed Martin Canada as a strong local partner in this project.

Raytheon Co. delivered its eighth AN/TPY-2 radar to the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) in support of the U.S. combatant commands. An integral capability of the Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS), AN/TPY-2 is a mobile, X-band phased-array radar that helps protect the U.S., deployed forces, and America's friends and allies by searching, acquiring and tracking threat ballistic missiles and discriminating between threats and non-threats.

Thales and Vinghøg AS signed a contract for the delivery of 44 Squire battlefield surveillance radars, to be deployed by the Norwegian Armed Forces. The first 10 systems will be delivered in the second half of 2013. The last delivery is scheduled for beginning of 2017.